Last night, after Thanksgiving dinner, the adults in my husband’s extended family were asked to mention something that they were grateful for. We went around the room, more or less, and I ended up being the last to take a turn.
Being last gave me the opportunity to try and think about what I would say while others took their turns, but I couldn’t think of one, single thing to mention. What I mean is that any single thing I thought to mention felt like it would be at the exclusion of everything else. I was, literally, unable to see my entire life as anything but this beautiful tapestry that God has put his hand to and the thought of mentioning just one thing (or even a few things) was like expressing my gratitude for a single thread. It failed to convey the relationship that thread has to every other thread, which is what makes the tapestry beautiful to begin with. It failed to convey the gratitude that I felt in my heart for every aspect of my life—for the things that God has caused me to experience in the past, for the circumstances that he has me in presently, and for the opportunities and promises that he has for me in the future. Many people would not regard the things in each of those categories as blessings, either. There have been, are, and will be things that most people would not appreciate or see the value in, but I do, and each thing is a testament to me of God’s love for me and for all of his creations.